The Statement

There was this point in the history of SK where members became dissatisfied with the forum. They made this known, and, frustrated that the feeling wouldn't go away, silently (or in some cases, loudly) left. Those that said goodbye were derided, bombarded with pictures like this and smugly told that they would return. Others decided to stay and try to change SK, to fix what they perceived to be a problem. Of those told that they would return, a few did, but most didn't.

The forum moved on, though. As Slipknot released a new album, the forum was flooded with new fans looking to talk about their new favourite band. The old members were either forgotten or never known.

SK thrived with its new cast, but it eventually ran into the same problems the old members faced - except, something was different. This new group was more hostile. Where individual rebellion was easily squelched by the moderators before, now the members fought en masse. A moderator would pick on a single member, and everyone but the sparse few that strode down the middle or sucked up to authority dove in. It was a war, with battles every single day between members revolting against the stifling dictatorship and the ruling party trying to maintain order over their domain.

It could only end in disaster. The only way the two could co-exist in the same space was if the members returned to being obedient servants, or the moderators, including their head baboon, stepped down and let new moderators be appointed. By this point, however, there was such a disconnect between the two sides that they couldn't co-exist. Everyone knew this, and following another batch of mass-bans, the remaining members finally gave up and left.

Following this exile from a place once called "home", we remained in contact via e-mails until the idea of a new forum, unbound by the restrictions of being dedicated to a singular entity, sprung forth. In the midst of its creation, another plan was set in motion: as a final stand against SK's leadership, the forum's former members would oust its leader.

Every member presented a statement. This was my statement:

SK1 is a forum to which I will never return. Being a member since February of 2007, this decision is one I make with considerable thought because it is a community I once loved. Unfortunately, once is the operative word, because it no longer represents the lively assembly I joined, where I saw friends banter with each other in one corner and seriously discuss one topic in another, regardless of the day or weather. Instead, the forum I leave is a dead one. I only see moderators forcing conversation with the lone remaining member, in a futile attempt to make up for the descended silence.

It is with no lack of irony that I see this, because I know very well that they only brought it upon themselves, and they deserve to stew in this mess they have created. Otherwise, I fear a vital lesson on professionalism and basic respect will go unlearned. I note that this fear may already have been realised when JoJo’s remark on her ban of several members and subsequent desertion of the remaining members was, in effect, “Let them leave. I don’t care.”

This lack of attachment is enough to give one pass because these members did care, but it is not surprising when JoJo shows little compassion for SK1 itself:

I would not hesitate to suggest that the link will be dead, however, as JoJo has a fondness for deleting “evidence”.

On the relation of the above, I bring up, “that you lot could be doing instead of sitting on a forum”. Although, initially, it may seem harmless, it is telling that she considers SK1 to merely be “a” forum; and she finds something wrong with members congregating on “a” forum, regardless that it is this one. She may not view SK1 in a high light, but the members do (or did).

Unfortunately, this example is not the most gregarious I could find, as I didn’t not delve deep enough, but there are more displays of, at times, overt dislike of SK1 (and its members).

One could also comment on the tone of this post, but I will move past it. Additionally, one could also point out that, contrary to the rules she claims to enforce, her signature is too big:

What I shall mention, though, is her reply when I mentioned the above devaluing of SK1: “Oh, hush…” This condescending and, to be frank, rude tone is not appreciated. It makes the members feel small, and triggers hostility.

Moving on, the biggest threat to SK1’s stability is in JoJo’s professionalism. She is inconsistent, even in the same post:

The phrase “Only human” is common in JoJo’s (and the other moderators, to be fair) vocabulary (although, contradictorily, admitting to her mistakes is not). I won’t dwell on this, but will mention that another common part is using her family as an excuse for not doing her job.
Logically, if one doesn’t do their job well, they are fired. In the real world, saying “I’m only human” doesn’t save your job. Many mothers work, and are excellent at their jobs – they don’t make excuses for being mothers. They don’t tell their boss they have normal worries and stresses, and therefore can’t be doing their job properly. Their boss wouldn’t tolerate this.

If JoJo really felt her family was so important, she would spend more time with them instead of fighting with members. And, I assumed until she alleged otherwise, her employers cared about this and her health. On this, I question your integrity for (allegedly) forcing a sickly woman to work.

As well as making excuses, she does not feel accountable for her actions:

Banned or not, member Abortion apologised after yet another argument, and simply asked for one from JoJo as well. Immediately, one sees her become aggressive after Abortion’s calm post, claiming that as he is banned, he has no rights – not even for her questionable behaviour. Of note, Abortion did not bring this argument on himself, as I will show in a moment.

Ultimately, JoJo does apologise, but quickly makes an excuse - she is tired and in pain. She does not spare a second to consider that perhaps Abortion, too, is pain and tired. He, unlike her, does not have the right to make his own excuse.

Member Calamity was referring to the formatting options, which have been buggy since the forum changed styles to coincide with the release of Slipknot’s All Hope is Gone album – that is, the forum has been buggy for two years.

Firstly, the company line, towed by JoJo and all her moderators is (as above), “We don’t handle that. Upper admin – nay, Sparkart – is responsible for that.” Initially, I mused that SK1 had done business with a very inept site designer if it was taking them two years to fix a simple coding error that would take mere hours or less to fix (I know this from personal experience). But then, I read this:

I would beg to differ. Either JoJo is too lazy to fix it and so lies about it, she doesn’t actually know how to fix and won’t ask for help, or she really doesn’t have the power to fix it – in which case, she is not an administrator but another moderator, and should lose her title of “Admin” to prevent further confusion.

Secondly, moderator 4nikator‘s reaction to Calamity’s question is defensive, proclaiming his surprise that “upper Admin” (the aforementioned company line) would still “give a fuck” about SK1, and blaming this feeling on the members. It is not difficult to see why this started the ensuing argument.

This response is not warranted, in any circumstance. It is her job to react maturely and professionally, not devolve into childish abuse. If she is really offended, she should suspend or ban the member, not set a poor precedent for the rest of the forum. Does she really expect other members to post responsibly when she doesn’t?

More berating, and picking fights. In response to member Jesse leaving:

JoJo would have us believe that the members are “bitching” at her, but as this image shows, members, including myself, were discussing a member that had left, when she interjected to, evidently, stamp her authority. In previous examples, she felt the need to link to a dictionary website to explain the meaning of “incompetent” behaviour; random posts threatening members is incompetent behaviour.

On the same page, she goes on to defensively and accusatorily discuss the aforementioned member. Again, a post for which there was no need – other than, perhaps, for throwing one’s authority around.

There is much more one can include here, such as:

Threatening members for their use of language, when she and the rest of the moderators use offensive language.

Complaining about members discussing music in a thread created for chatting. She also failed to notice that she herself broke this “rule”.

Insulting and/or banning members when they do not see her point of view (a thread on illegal downloading is proof of this), and banning member for personal reasons unrelated to the forum (as in the case of member The_Blode).

Allowing her moderators to bully members.

The list goes on, but I will leave it to the other members to hopefully touch on more fully, as I was not involved in many of these fights that took place on SK1, eventually deciding that SK1 was not worth my posts when the moderators disallowed members to be themselves.

In closing, I will say that while I do not expect JoJo and the moderators to learn their lesson, even if they are demoted, I do not intend to return. This experience has soiled SK1 – my view of it and my desire to partake in that community.

I want to move on. I want to forget the silent frustration I felt while trying to make sense of JoJo’s arrogant, obnoxious posts, knowing she always appeared to be seeking a fight with someone so she could show off her power. And I don’t ever want to support a band that not only employs such a horrible person to be the “leader” of Slipknot fans (“maggots”) everywhere, but (according to her) fully backs her actions. Watching my membership of the Slipknot “army” flushed down the toilet and the place where I spent many of my days collapse to utter ruins, I am ashamed that I ever considered myself to be a maggot, ashamed that I am – nay, was – a Slipknot fan.

I’m glad, ultimately, that I won’t ever have to. I’m moving on. From SK1, and Slipknot.

-illogica

It ultimately ended in failure. After being stalled for weeks, we finally got a reply: "We forwarded all of your prior e-mails to Slipknot management. ... They have informed us that they would still like to keep JoJo in her current role."

To be honest, I didn't expect it to succeed - the band is on hiatus and too busy or lazy to deal with trivial things like disgruntled fans - but it was worth a shot anyway. The problem, frankly, had no easy solution. JoJo would probably not lose her position, and if she did, the moderator group is so inept that the only candidate perceivably good enough to succeed her is too busy to be her successor. Removing JoJo and putting one of the other sheep in charge would have eventually resulted in another group of disgruntled fans wasting their time on useless statements.

And I don't call them sheep without considering it, because after all this, the rationale I got for the moderators' objectionable behaviour was that in order to get free tickets, special privileges, and the like, they had to suck up to JoJo and treat the members like dirt. This doesn't make what was done better. It doesn't make those scarred by the whole affair (I'm not one of them, but I know some, and I realise it's just teh internetz, but that doesn't make psychological abuse any less damaging) feel better. They're disparaging people for benefits. That's disgusting, reproachable, and most of all, unquestionably unworthy of my pity.

JoJo is still the administrator. She will still be the administrator tomorrow. And when Slipknot decides to cash in on their fame amongst the downtrodden youth again, SK1 will be flooded with new fans. Most will inevitably lose interest, but some will become regulars. Of these, some will begin to feel a slight disliking towards the group that controls them, not knowing why until this dislike develops into something deeper and a dissatisfaction begins to brew amongst them. A fight will break out. Then another. And ultimately, in the dog days of another Slipknot hiatus, they, too, will disappear into the chasm of unknown departed souls.
In posting this, I want to set the words of my statement in stone, so that maybe when one of these future members trawls the web, s/he may find this and realise what many of the current ones don't even know: you weren't the first, we weren't, and what you see from JoJo is just one more in a long line of strikes of the blackened baton.

With this final paragraph, my interest in Slipknot breaks off from my wilted fandom. In playing their hand and retaining JoJo, Slipknot have shown not only to not care about their fans, but to support such horrible behaviour. You have gone against the words you used to shout at the top of your lungs. You do not practice what you preach. You are hypocrites. You are liars. You have lost what little meaning you had left. I wash my hands of you. I'm done.